Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney[i] McDaniel revealed a few days back that she will be seeking re-election.  If re-elected this would be McDaniel’s fourth term.

McDaniel made the announcement on a call with RNC members from around the country. 

Had the Republicans triumphed during the midterms, McDaniel would have deserved to be re-elected.  However, that did not occur.  The GOP’s performance was thoroughly underwhelming.  What makes it worse is that it happened against the backdrop of Biden’s catastrophic misgovernance which continues to cause immeasurable hardships for the citizens.

McDaniel appeared on CNN the Sunday before the midterms (YouTube screengrab)

• Inflation still remains at 8.2 percent causing the prices of regular items to skyrocket.
• The border is open causing human trafficking, smuggling of illicit drugs, and an influx of 5 million illegal migrants including violent criminals.
• The crime wave and the Fentanyl crisis have placed lives in peril.
• The January 6th Committee was set up to persecute political opponents. Many January 6th protestors have been subjected to draconian punishment. President Trump continues to be hounded by the Democrats back government agencies on myriad fronts.

But despite all this Biden not only survived but triumphed.

The Democrats hold a majority in the Senate and managed to pick up Gubernatorial seats. In the House, the Democrats lost only 8 seats while the GOP gained the same.

The Democrats did much better under Joe Biden than they did under Democrat stars such as Obama and Clinton at similar junctures in their respective presidencies.

The mainstream media placed all the blame for the GOP’s underwhelming performance on President Trump. They attempted to make the case that Trump’s sway over voters is rapidly fading away and that the voters rejected insurrectionists or election deniers.  Alas, even some sections of ‘conservative’ media joined in to push this narrative that Trump was responsible for the GOP’s midterm disappointment.  This narrative was probably also pushed by the leadership of the RNC

The RNC leadership knows that the mainstream media is eager to prevent Trump from running in 2024 and would readily amplify the claim that even the GOP is sick of Trump. Another benefit is that blaming Trump creates so much noise that the real offenders manage to fly under the radar.

So here are some facts.

• Trump not on being on the ballot
• Trump did not hold any official position in the Republican party.
• In fact, it could be argued that Trump's endorsements enabled the GOP to take back the House and retain some seats in the Senate, else it could have been much worse.
• The lion’s share of the blame has to be placed on the head of the RNC Leadership, the Senate Leadership, and the House Leadership.
• The RNC leadership failed to develop a strategy to communicate with voters about the failures of Biden and how the GOP would be able to fix those wrongs.
• The RNC leadership also failed to counter Democrats' scare tactics about U.S. democracy being in danger and regarding abortion. 
• The RNC leadership also failed to work with state authorities to bring elections to normal where most of the voting occurs on Election Day with the citizen reporting to the polling booths.
• Instead, mail voting, i.e., early voting. was still widely allowed and perhaps even encouraged.   Biden's Executive Order 14019 from March 2021 asked all 600 federal agencies to "consider ways to expand citizens' opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process."  The Biden administration refused to reveal details of this order. This lead many to suspect if this was merely voter registration or if this was an act to target only Democrat voters.

Once again, the RNC leadership were mere spectators. 

The Republicans didn’t seem to have much of a ground game either.  They seemed to believe the claim of a red wave; hence displayed complacency and hubris.

Even now the RNC leadership seems to be asleep when they are most needed.

American Thinker’s Monica Showalter wrote that while Kari Lake is bravely taking on the system for electoral fraud, the RNC Leadership is conspicuous by their absence.

Usually in sports, when a team underperforms, the team leadership i.e., the captain, the coach and the manager accept responsibility, issues apologies, and resigns in shame and disgrace.   This is exactly what should have happened with McDaniel, McConnell and McCarthy.  But instead, McConnell was re-elected as Senate Minority Leader while McCarthy is all set to become Speaker of the House.

Doubtlessly McDaniel thinks, “If they could win, why not me?”  McDaniel faces some potential challengers.  The most formidable among them is Lee Zeldin (R-NY).  Zeldin recently ran in a gubernatorial race in the Democrat bastion of New York.

Zeldin fell just under 350,000 votes short of incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). This was a difference of 5%.

This record, despite his defeat, has made Zeldin the most successful Republican candidate in New York since the 1994 race between George Pataki and Mario Cuomo.

Zeldin knows how to fight the Democrats on their terrain.

If he could achieve so much in a Democrat bastion such as New York, he could do wonders for the GOP in a leadership position.

NBC News reported that American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, a former Trump White House official, have discussed possibility of running for the job with allies. The Schlapps remain close allies of President Donald Trump

Another name that has been floated as a possible chair candidate is former Trump campaign official, David Bossie.

The Huff Post reported that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is also considering a run for RNC chair.  Lindell told the National File that “we need someone who knows how to run a business to lead one of the most important organizations in our country.”  The pillow-maker said this week in a live stream video that he wanted to hear from supporters about whether he should launch an RNC chairperson campaign, Newsweek reported.  Lindell lambasted McDaniel for the GOP's poor performance and for her failure to address election integrity issues.  Lindell said that the RNC needs to be run like a business, which he knows how to do. 

The RNC chair election is scheduled for the party’s winter meeting in January when the 168 members of the committee vote on their next leader.

Despite her record, McDaniel is still the favorite to win reelection, with nearly 100 of the 168 voting members in support of her run for re-election.

A change in leadership although nice appears most unlikely. 

Unfortunately for the Republicans, ‘McLeadership’ seems likely to continue.